A “SADISTIC” man with a deep hatred of his strict Christian step-father was jailed for 22 years after trying to kill him with scissors.
Simon Dowrick, 25, from Grays, repeatedly stabbed 55-year-old William Dowrick at his house in Fir Way, Shiphay, near Torquay, Devon.
At Exeter Crown Court, Judge Graham Cottle told Dowrick: “You went to his house in the middle of the night in order to kill him.
“It was a frenzied and sustained attack.”
The court heard Dowrick blamed his stepfather for an unhappy childhood, much of which was spent in South Africa, where he was regularly punished and made to feel whatever he did was “un-Christian”.
Prosecutor Richard Crabb said on September 2 last year, William Dowrick was sleeping at his house in Torquay when his drunken stepson gained entry, cut the telephone wires and attacked him.
His mother, Patricia, was in another bedroom when she heard her husband scream.
Simon Dowrick could not explain why he committed the attack, but had since shown remorse for his actions.
Simon Dowrick had previously pleaded guilty to attempted murder.
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